What is your Blue Truck moment?
Since, I just posted about my unique perspective as a military veteran and how that informs my view of Memorial Day and all veteran’s holidays, I thought I’d keep the patriotic theme going and talk about a country music concert I just went to. And what’s more American & patriotic than some country music?
So, here’s the story. The day before Memorial Day (last Sunday) I was fortunate to be able to take in a Carrie Underwood concert at the Spokane Veteran’s Memorial Arena (great name for my hometown arena and right in line with my patriotism theme) with my better half. My wife and I had an awesome date together with dinner beforehand and everything! For those of you without kids, you might not think that’s as cool as I do. But, that coupled with the fact that we got to see CU, it was pretty stinkin’ rad. And, yes, I did just say rad.
So, not surprisingly, I was blown away by Carrie’s performance. She sang her lungs out for over 2 hours, and that girl can “sang” (southern tense intended). Right from the get-go she came out with power and that vulnerable yet invincible persona that makes her who she is.
As a musician, I tend to draw inspiration from other musicians and by listening to music (be it live or recorded). There were times during the concert where I was moved to tears at the purity of her voice and the message in some of her songs. Here’s a YouTube clip of Just a Dream. Listen to it first and then read the rest.
Let me paint the picture for you. Imagine me sitting next to my wife who spent a year alone while I was over in Iraq, pregnant with our second son, raising my first-born and wondering each day if I’d make it back. This song could’ve been her and it could’ve been me. But, by the grace of God we made it through. So, listening to a song like this was surreal and beautiful and overwhelming all at the same time. And all I have is gratitude for my wife, for the life I now have and for making it back from that war that still rages on.
Crazy, you wouldn’t think you could get all this from a country concert. But I did.
Sorry, I really didn’t mean for this to be an “emo” post. I’m just writing to you from my heart, and this is what’s coming out. So, all that said, I am getting to my point about the BLUE TRUCK. Wait for it! Wait for it! Okay, here it is. No wait. One more thing. If you listen really carefully, you might hear me singing “West Virginia” along with Carrie in the “blue truck” moment of my story. And so, here it almost is.
What I thought was so cool about the concert overall, other than the vocal quality and all the bells & whistles of the multi-media stage & lights, was the fact that, from my perspective, she was able to totally be herself by talking about her journey thus far, giving credit to God and people who’d contributed to her career, sharing things about her past and simultaneously was still able to keep 5,000 people spell-bound for over 2 hours.
But the grandest moment, the cherry on the Ice Cream Sunday (drum roll, please) was the BLUE TRUCK! Watch THIS! Wasn’t that amazing?!?
And, as if that wasn’t cool enough here’s another clip of her journey around the arena in the BIG BLUE TRUCK!
So here’s my BIG THOUGHT in all this. What is your BLUE TRUCK moment for your fans, followers, readers and friends? We all need one. For Carrie, this was the part of the concert that left people talking. I was struck by the fact that I need to work towards providing a “blue truck” sort of experience with my art and my content. Don’t we all owe it to our constituents to do this? I think we do.
So, here’s our assignment. Let’s share with one another what we are doing to really provide something unique and special in our work. There is a lot of power in the sharing of ideas.
Go brainstorm about what your “blue truck” moment could be. Like me, you’re probably not all the way there yet. We’re all at different points in our journey. But it’s important to pursue a vision of what your distinguishing factor–this BLUE TRUCK–could be and work relentlessly to make it happen.
Thanks for reading. You and your thoughts mean a lot to me. I draw inspiration from your work and your encouragement. I’ll be back with you soon….drew 
